January 8, 2023 / Real Church/ A Real Church Loves Well

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we are searching for. Well, I'm looking forward to getting into our new series

this morning. If you have your Bibles, please take them and turn to Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

And as you turn to Matthew chapter 22, I'm going to give you just another word of announcement

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

if I can, and that is having to do with healthy home. Hopefully you know that healthy home

is more than a conference. Healthy home is not just a conference that we commit to have

every year, and you're hearing more and more about the one coming up on the 5th of February,

but it's also a group of resources that we want to provide for you so that you can have

a healthy heart and a healthy home. It's all about being healthy spiritually. So if you

would, take a moment and just look at what we have for you. There is a QR code on the

screen. You might even want to pick up your phone and raise it up and get that QR code

because that goes directly into a series of four apps that we are providing to you. Now

as that code is on the screen, let me share with you what those four apps are within our

website that we're providing. First of all, if you want to read the Bible through in the

course of a year, there's a great app there for helping you read the Bible through. There

are about 22 different plans you can choose from, and it doesn't matter really which plan

it is, but these plans always go along the lines of what might make you more comfortable

in the sense of starting with the New Testament or starting with the Old Testament, whatever

it might be to help you get through the Bible reading in the course of a year. It's an incredible

blessing to be able to do that, and there's an app for that. So that's on that screen

as well. And then in addition to that, we have the New City Catechism app is on that

screen as well. New City Catechism is a daily kind of interaction. Really it's broken into

52 different weeks with 52 different truths, but daily you can go through these with your

family, and they're doctrinal, they're biblical, they're a great way to raise up the next generation

and the faith of the next generation. We've handed these books out in the past, but now

we have it in app form, so that's on the QR code as well. Then thirdly, if you're a married

couple, there is a way to understand the five love languages, and there's an app that is

connected to the five love languages, and it just helps you know how to best relate

to your spouse, and we want you to take advantage of that. The fourth aspect of that is that

when you hit this QR code, you'll also hit the code for our podcast. The podcast of our

services as well as other material and content that we're putting on that podcast is for

you to grow spiritually, and all this is about helping you be as healthy as you possibly

can spiritually. Of course, the way to do that is get in the Word, and just allow God's

Word to impact your life in a huge way, so that's our invitation to you, and that's the

address for where you get all those things. In addition to the Healthy Home Conference,

there's all kinds of resources we're going to be giving you. All right? Well, we start

a new series today called Real Church, not the perfect church, but the real church, because

I hope that you've concluded at this point, there is no perfect church yet. The church

is perfect in that it's Christ who will perfect it, but there is a church that is on earth

right now that can be a real church. Matthew chapter 22 is where we're going to start today.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

This is a vision series, a series that reminds us of the priorities of who we are as a church.

At the end of January, after the Healthy Home Conference, we'll jump back into the book

of Genesis, where we have been for some months. We'll pick up Genesis chapter 4 through chapter

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

11, amazing truths in Genesis chapter 4 through chapter 11. Well, are you ready? Do you have

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

your Bible? Let's stand together. Matthew chapter 22, today a real church loves well.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

A real church loves well. Now, the context of Matthew 22 is the Pharisees have seen that

Jesus has silenced the Sadducees. They're trying to put Jesus out of business, basically.

They're trying to embarrass Jesus and trap him. They're having a conversation with Jesus

on this day. In verse 35, one of the Pharisees comes up and asks him an important question.

It says in verse 35, one of them, a lawyer, asks him a question, testing him, teacher,

which is the great commandment in the law? He said, you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and

foremost commandment. Now, think for a moment how powerful that statement really is. Jesus,

in a very brief but clear way, says this is the most important thing you can know about

the law and the commandment. It's a big deal. Verse 39, the second is like it. You

shall love your neighbor as yourself. Then in verse 40, Jesus concludes this statement

by saying, on these two commandments depend the whole law and prophets. What a statement.

Father, today in Jesus' name, give us the wisdom and the illumination of your Holy Spirit

on our hearts, on our minds, in our lives, to understand and to embrace this truth that

you've given. Father, thank you so much that you love us first so that we can even know

what it means to love you. I ask all this in Jesus' name. All God's people said, amen.

Please be seated if you would. I was doing some research on the perfect church not long

ago, and I came across an article that someone else wrote about the perfect church. Let me

read it to you. The perfect church is the perfect size. It's not too large and it's

not too small. It has perfect togetherness. Everyone is close friends and share many things

together. No one is ever lonely. It's made up of perfect volunteers and perfect leaders.

Every member is a perfect example to those on the inside and outside, never missing an

opportunity to encourage someone else. Every member takes his or her turn serving in a

Bible class or in preschool or in children. There's never a deficiency for volunteers

in this perfect church. Everybody that comes to a small group is adequately prepared. They're

ready for the lesson ahead. The perfect church has perfect leaders and excellent teachers.

They never miss a detail. While few adverse situations arise in the perfect church, when

they do, the leaders handle each of them perfectly. Deacons are models of efficiency in ministry.

The preacher, while he's practically perfect, now remember I didn't write this, every sermon

is a home run. He's just the right age, 33, with just the right experience, 40 years of

experience. He has a perfect wife and a perfect family. He's at the same time deep and simple,

entertaining and practical, and he's never long-winded. Now you know I didn't write it

now. The perfect church has perfect worship experiences, perfect attendance, spirited singing,

eloquent prayer, moving communion. The sound volume is always perfect for everybody in

the room. There's a deep reverence, yet at the same time everybody's excited. There's

never a distraction. No one ever wanders in and out. They're all glued to their chair

for the whole service. Every visitor is greeted warmly and without exception wants to come

back immediately the next week. The perfect church has the perfect building. It's nice,

but not gaudy. It's always the right temperature for everyone, conveniently located no matter

where you live. There is perfect unity in the perfect church. No one disagrees. There

are no offenses, no signs of spiritual maturity, even in young Christians. It's the perfect

church. What else would you expect? Now if you know where that perfect church is, please

tell me so I can go. But I think most of us know there is no perfect church. Obviously

the writer was rotting tongue-in-cheek, but the truth is the perfect church has not even

been found even in the Bible. Do you know how many churches are detailed, highlighted

in the Bible, in the Scripture? And yet every single one of them had flaws. They had flaws

because they had people. The Jerusalem church had many great qualities, but they also had

a couple of famous liars, Ananias and Sapphira, and then they neglected the widows and the

daily serving of food, and they had general disunity. Adiach was a notable congregation

because of its doctrine, but they also exhibited racial prejudice. That's the Lanica. It had

a group of people that didn't want to work, and so Paul had to write to them, if you don't

work, you can't eat. And Corinth, it was probably the most imperfect

church. They were selfish and greedy. Ephesus? Ephesus lost their first love. They moved

away from loving Christ. So even under the leadership of the apostles, early on after

Christ, the church was not perfect at all. And I've come to the conclusion that it's

not going to be perfect until Jesus Christ comes back. Now we serve a perfect Savior,

again, and we pursue Him, but we have not yet been made perfect in the sense of our

practical everyday life. We're perfectly forgiven, perfectly sanctified in Christ, but we are

not perfect people in the church of Jesus. So the church isn't going to be perfect until

Jesus returns, but listen very carefully. It can be real, it can be authentic, and it

can be life giving. And today, that's one of the most important

things that we can focus on. The church can be what God called us to be on this planet,

moving towards more and more likeness of Him that we must, we must be real. We must be

authentic. We must be life giving. You know, we have a phrase around here that

we use quite a bit, and anytime I talk about a vision series, I'm going to bring this

phrase up. But this phrase is built around a graph, or a graphic that we use, and that

graphic is involving the words relate, engage, adopt, and lead. And that graphic really kind

of points out the things that we really believe. We believe that Jesus Christ has called us

to have an abundant life. In fact, that's what Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse

John 10:10

10. Imperfect people, like us, are called to have life through Jesus and have it more

abundantly. So based on that, we built a phrase that was very important to us. And that phrase

is real people have real hope and real life in Jesus Christ. And we use that phrase all

the time. In fact, these church are bound that we've given away over the years. Real

people, real hope, real life. And it resonates with us because we know we can't be perfect

until Christ comes back, but we also know that we can be real, and we do have a real

hope that we find in Jesus. And we know we can have the real life that Jesus offers,

that abundant life he refers to. So whenever you talk about the vision of the church, you

have to come back to qualities and priorities like that. Now we have a graphic that we put

together and it uses the word real to denote four key words that are important to us. I

won't spend a lot of time on this, but I will spend a little bit of time on it. Those

four words that respond to our acrostic, the real acrostic are relate, that we relate well

to God and others. That's the first priority of the church and the focus I'm having today.

Secondly, we want to engage those that are far from Christ with the prayers and hopes

that we can draw them to Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. Thirdly,

we are to adopt new brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can have the family of God

as we gather. And fourth, we need to be willing to lead and serve one another as those that

are called and gifted to serve. So relate, engage, adopt, and lead. But today I want

to talk about the relationship part of that, the very top phrase to relate. I mean what

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 22 is all about relationships. Oscar Thompson was a seminary

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

professor that I had. He was an interim pastor of this church during some previous years.

Dr. Thompson used to have a phrase that he said all the time. He said, mark my words

in 20 and 30 years, this phrase will mean more to you than you could possibly imagine.

But here's the phrase, and the phrase is, the most important word in the English language

is relationships. Now when I first heard that I wasn't overly impressed. I thought there

are probably some deeper statements and thoughts that I will carry with me. I thought I would

carry with me for 30 and 40 years, but it's an interesting statement. And 30 and 40 years

later I look back and realize that's probably one of the most important things I've ever

heard. That relationship is the most important word in our language. Because everything good

that happens happens through relationships, and everything bad that happens happens through

faulty relationships or no relationships. It's incredibly important. And when Jesus

spoke to these Pharisees and these lawyers trying to entrap him, he dealt with the issue

of relationships. God has always been about relationships. Now there's a phrase in verse

40 that Jesus spoke that I want to spend a moment on before we move on to what he said

primarily. But one of the phrases he said is this phrase. He said, on these two depend

the law and the prophets. Loving God, loving others, on these two depend the law and the

prophets. And I was interested in that phrase some time ago when I began to study that.

And I realized that phrase was only said three times in the New Testament in that form. The

first time it was said is Matthew chapter five where Jesus said, I've come to fulfill

the law and the prophets. The second time it was used is when Jesus gave us what we

know as the golden rule, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. And Jesus

said, this fulfills the law and the prophets. The third time is the text we just read. Love

God with all your heart, love others as yourself, and this fulfills the law and the prophets.

Now I made a statement to you that God has always been concerned about relationships.

Go all the way back to the book of Exodus and the giving of the Ten Commandments. Have

you ever analyzed those Ten Commandments and broken them down and thought through what

it means each one of them? The first four commandments are all about loving God and

honoring God. The next six commandments are all about loving people and honoring people.

The pretty incredible statement for Jesus to say that the first five books of the Old

Testament, which we know as the law, and then the last 17 books of the Old Testament, which

we know as the prophets, all those are fulfilled in what Jesus gave that day to those people

trying to entrap him. It seems to me we need to know what that verse, what that passage

really, really means. So today we're going to break that down and look at what it means

to prioritize the relationships as the church of Jesus Christ that Jesus gave that day.

Let me just start with this statement. A real church is a group of people who aspire to

three relational priorities. A group of people who aspire to three relational priorities.

You know the church is not the buildings, even though we enjoy sitting in a nice

air-conditioned or heated building, right? We enjoy our cup of coffee. We enjoy classrooms

that are good for us as we study God's Word, but it's not about the buildings. It's not

about the location. The church is not the location. The church is not the leaders either.

The church is the people. In fact, the word church, ecclesia, means called out ones.

You are the called out ones who have been called out by Jesus Christ. So today I want

you to see this as the marching orders for you and I who are the called out ones. A real

church is a group of people who aspire to three relational priorities, and it's not

hard to guess what they are. Number one, love God. Say those two words with me. Love God.

Jesus starts his answer to these Pharisees in that way. They ask him, teacher, what is

the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your

God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your minds. And I'm going

to promise you in just a few moments, I'm going to tell you how I believe that applies

to us practically, but before that I want to share a few things with you. The Pharisees

were trying to entrap Jesus. You know, the Pharisees were connected to God religiously,

but not relationally. They saw religion as a way of doing the right things, a list of

dos and don'ts, avoiding the wrong things so that God might not be angry at you. Some

people still have this mentality where they're always looking over their shoulder that God

may zap them with a boat of lightning if they don't do right well enough or if they don't

avoid wrong long enough. So they related to God on the basis of religion. Others that

are that they related to God or they were aware of God by awareness. They knew about

God in general because of how other people talked about God. Maybe they knew about God

because they observed creation and most people who observed creation realized it didn't get

here on its own. So they knew about him religiously. They knew about him in the sense of awareness,

but they did not have any relationship with God. So Jesus responded to their question

about the greatest commandment with a relationship kind of answer. Jesus responded to those trying

to entrap him with the greatest statement the Bible gives us about relationship. Now

the reason he does that is because God does not consider religion to be the priority.

And he knows that awareness is not enough. He wants you to have a relationship with him.

And what's important is not your good works and not your perfect behavior and it's not

your religion or an unmarked past. What God says is priority is knowing how to love him

with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Here's a statement for

you. God desires that we are relationally connected to him and he makes that possible

through Jesus Christ. Somebody say I am glad. He makes it possible. You and I don't have

a clue about how to relate to a holy God. We have no idea how to please him. No idea

how to connect with him at all. We don't know how to speak his language at all. But Jesus

came and he gave his life so that we might have a connection with God that involves relationship.

And today we have a relationship and are connected to God through that, not through religion,

not through anything else. And for those men in that day and time, for all those that Jesus

shared the message with, this was the most revolutionary thing they could possibly imagine.

But Jesus came to make a way for us. He came to reveal God to us. He came to redeem us

to himself. Think about all he did. He left glory, the glory of heaven to come and walk

on this earth. And he revealed the father by his life and by his words and by his work.

He died on the cross to pay for our sin. He made it possible for us to put our faith in

Jesus Christ so that we can have a relationship with him. It's pretty profound. It's the greatest

message the world's ever heard. You know the word in the Bible for gospel is the word that

means good news. And it is good news, great news. I spell gospel acrossically. I love

acrossic stuff. Apparently I do love them. G in the gospel stands for God's character.

He's a loving, merciful God who doesn't want to punish us for our sin, but a just judge

who will by no means let the guilty go unpunished. The O of the gospel stands for the

offensive sin that we are all sinners separate from God, every single one of us are. The

S of the gospel stands for the savior or the sufficiency of Jesus Christ who lived a

perfect life, died on the cross to make it possible for us to have forgiveness and

relationship with God. The P of the gospel is a personal response because just because

Jesus did this doesn't mean it's ours yet. We must repent of our sins and put our

faith in Jesus as Lord and savior. The E of the gospel is eternal urgency. It's important

that we make this decision because it's about life and death and eternity. We don't have

any guarantees for how long we'll live. And so we're urgent in presenting this to you.

And we are urgent in asking you to make a decision to follow Christ. The L of the gospel

is life transformation because once you put your faith in Christ, your life changes, but

all this spells access. We have access to God because of Jesus Christ. It's how we know

him. It's how we're able to worship him and pray to him. Everything we do in our relationship

with God is granted by the access through Jesus Christ. And through Jesus, you can get

to God and know God and relate to God in a way that you couldn't do without Jesus at

all. That matter how religious or how good you are, you can never ever have a good relationship

with God at all without Jesus Christ. He provides access. A good friend of mine, Dave Chrome,

who passed away last year tragically was for years a sportscaster, an anchor person. And

I love to tell this story because the first time Dave took me to Dallas Cowboy football

game, I realized that's the way to go because in the new Cowboy stadium, they had a brand

new press room. And if you were an anchor person, you could go to that press room and

bring a friend. Dave had an access badge, a lanyard he wore. He had a sticker on his

car and he picked me up one day. We went to Dallas Cowboy football game. Dave drove right

up to the stadium. I was expecting to walk like most of us commoners have to walk when

we buy a ticket to the Cowboy game. You walk 25 miles and you're there, right? And he drove

right up to a side door right next to the stadium. And I thought, Dave, are you going

to get towed? He goes, no, I've got this card. He says, just tell him you're with me. I said,

all right. He went to the door that nobody else could get into and it just opened with

a five because Dave was credentialed, right? And if anybody looked at me, he just said,

just tell him you're with me. We went to an elevator that nobody else really used. And

we went up to the press box in that elevator and that elevator was only for those that

were credentialed, but I didn't have a credential, but Dave did. So Dave said, just tell everybody

you with me. And when we got to the press box, it had this most amazing place for, for

sports writers to sit down and there were multiple massive television screens. And I

learned later that while the football game is going on, every live football NFL game

was being broadcast on these screens, simultaneous to us watching the Cowboys on the field.

You talk about utopia and I didn't belong there and I knew it, but Dave was credentialed

and I was with Dave. Then it was a buffet line. Let me tell you something, folks. They

feed you in that stadium, in that press room. And I didn't have the card, but Dave says,

tell them you're with me and you can eat all you want. And so I went and I ate all I

wanted. It was an incredible experience, but none of that experience is something I deserved,

but I got because I had access through my friend, Dave Krohm, who was credentialed.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, you know where I'm going with this and that is only Jesus

Christ is credentialed before God the father. And the reason you're forgiven is because

you're with Jesus. And the reason you go to heaven is because you're with Jesus. And the

reason that you have access to God is because you're with Jesus. And that

constitutive relationship with Jesus Christ that allows you to know this God and to love

him for all the things he has done for you. When Jesus said, love the Lord your God with

all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, he knew that we would be talking

about this 2000 years later as the greatest commandment that he gave us. Now let me give

you some personal insight into my life and what I think this passage means to me as an

individual, because people ask the question, how do you love God with all your heart, with

all your soul, with all your mind? How does that work exactly? But I have to give you

three words that have impacted my life. The first one is the word all a W E. I believe

loving God means that you stand in all of his incredible power and presence. As a matter

of fact, I don't think you can love him well until you're impressed with who he is. And

if you know anything about this world and life, you've got to be impressed with who

he is. He spoke and the world's came into existence. Think about that. He upholds all

things by the word of his power, the scripture says, and I believe it. There are times I

just get out at night or early in the morning. I look up in the sky and I see the stars in

the solar system and I'm in awe, not of the stars and not of the solar systems. I'm in

awe of the God that put them there. There are times I watch incredible movies on television

about nature, about animals, about the ocean, about birds in the air. And I'm not impressed

by the ocean. I'm not impressed by the birds in the air, but I'm impressed with the God

who put it all there. That's what it means to be in awe of God and we can love him because

we're in awe of him. But then I think about what God has done for me and I have affection.

That's the second word, affection. Well, I think about the fact that Jesus left the glory

of having to come walk on the earth just because he was willing to down across to pay for your

sin and pay for my sin. I have affection for the God who reached out to me in that way,

who sacrificially laid his life down on the cross. Affection means thank you for what

you've done for me. I love you for what you've done for me. I love him with all my heart,

my soul, and my mind because of what he's done for me. And then alignment is the third

word. I love him with all my heart, soul, and mind when I want to think like he thinks

and do what he says to do. I mean, really, love is all about doing what's best according

to the one you're serving and that's God. So the awe that I have in my life, the affection

I have in my life, the alignment I have in my life constitutes loving God with all your

heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. And if there's anything else that involves,

God will reveal that to us and we will give that to him because of who he is. And maybe

those three words will mean something to you at some point. We need to learn to love God

with awe, learn to love God with affection, learn to love God with alignment. And that

actually brings security. It actually brings all kinds of significance in your life. And

it'll be the one thing that guides you through every part of your life, learning to love

him well. And beyond that, loving him well means it puts you in fellowship with other

people that have learned to love God well. There is a plane of relationship that no other

friendship can get to unless you're with somebody who loves God with all their heart, with all

their soul, and all their minds. I mean, I have a lot in common with people that love

old cars, no trucks. I talk about those things all the time with a few guys. I've got an

old truck I've rebuilt. I love that kind of thing, but there's a ceiling to that kind

of relationship and it just doesn't go all the way to the top unless they love God with

all their heart and all their soul and all their mind. There's football friends and we

like to yell at the TV a lot and we do that together and we're in harmony with that, but

there's a level that is a ceiling there that I can't go higher than unless they have a

love in their heart, they love God with their whole heart, soul, and minds. And every other

relationship is like that. But my friend, when you love God with your whole heart, when

you're in awe of God, have affection for God, and you're in alignment with God, there's

a relationship there that is incomparable with anything else in life. It's just an amazing

benefit we have from loving God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and everything about

us. So first of all, love God. Sounds simple, it is profound. But the second part of this

statement is to love people. Jesus said the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor

as yourself. That's in verse 39. So based on this powerful and intimate relationship

we have with God, this vertical relationship, we can now love others as well. And it's an

intentional way of life, just like his love for us was intentional and it flows out of

being loved instead of liking other people. This kind of love involves what Jesus demonstrated

in his life, selflessness, compassion, service, and sacrifice. You remember John 13, where

Jesus was watching his disciples, he was preparing them to get ready for his crucifixion, and

they weren't really catching on very well, and he started talking to them about a new

commandment. And in John chapter 13, this new commandment was expressed this way, a

John 13 · chapter mention

new commandment I give you, that you love one another. But the key line is this next

one, even as I have loved you, that you love one another also. By this, all men will know

you're my disciples if you have love for one another. Now it's important for you to note

that this word love is the agape word, the unconditional love that's spoken of in the

Bible, and only in the Bible. It's not just friendship based on common interests. It's

not family love that comes naturally because we're members of a family. It's not erotic

love or sexual love. It's far more than that. Unconditional love is love with no guarantee

of return, love with no strings attached. It desires only for the well-being of the

one loved. It's the kind of love Christ has for us. And when we have it, it stands out

in a broken world, a world that doesn't know how to love one another. I'm telling you that

I believe it because you know the love of God, you have the ability to love people that

you didn't have before. If I love God and have the love of God in my life, I'm accepted

by God, so I'm not fearful of being rejected by somebody else's love. They may love me,

they may not love me back, but that's not the most important thing because I am not

rejected. I am loved by God eternally and unconditionally. Now, sometimes it's hard

to love people. How many of you know that? Would you raise your hand? Sometimes it's

hard to love people. Sometimes people are irregular. They don't go the same way we go.

They don't believe the same things we believe. We don't even like them. And so it's hard

for us to love them. Have you ever heard this statement before? I've heard this before.

I love you, but I don't like you. Have you ever heard that in marriage? Have you ever

heard that in marriage? But the Bible tells us that when we have the love of God in our

lives, we have the ability and the power, having experienced God's love, to give that

love. That's what Jesus is talking about. Love that Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, all your mind. This is the first and most important commandment.

The second is likened to it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Get that vertical love and know

what that means. And then now spread that horizontally. It's a pretty big deal. So how

do we do that? First John chapter four, verse 19 says we love because he first loved us.

So what that basically means is because you know the love of God for you and how he's

loved you, you love others in that way. We love God because he first loved us.

We love each other because he first loved us. We love our family because he first loved

us. We love our neighbors because he first loved us. We love the church because he first

loved us. We love the loss because he first loved us. We love people who are different

because he first loved us. We love people who are difficult because he first loved us.

We love people who are annoying because he first loved us

We love our enemies because he first loved us not because we like them not because they do us any favors not because they're making

Promises to return that life we love because he first loved us

That's it, that's it

That's the criteria

So what that makes us is very different people

Talk about peculiar people we're peculiar

Because we've experienced the love of God and we're willing to love others even if they don't love us back

Do you think that doesn't stand out in a loveless world? It stands out big time

When the church of Jesus Christ loves that way we've literally been taught God to love one another

And the how of loving others is to know what it feels like for Jesus to love others and in this case others mean you

You are the receiving end of God's love

One of the greatest conversations about love in the bible is in first john

And first john 4 verse 7 and 8 verse 11. Here's what it says

1 John 4:7

Beloved let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God

The one who does not love does not know God for God is love

Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. He's called us to love others

the way he's loved

You know one of the best examples of this is in the

parable of the good samaritan remember the story of the good samaritan where Jesus is telling

a group of leaders about

This man had been robbed and was bleeding on the side of the road left for dead

And he talks about two religious leaders who were in the same church

And he talks about two religious leaders who passed him by

But didn't stop

And then a samaritan a half-breed in the eyes of those listening that day who was not of the same ethnicity

Was not of the same religion yet stopped and showed compassion

And Jesus told the story then asked the question

As it was asked of him who's my neighbor and he answered the question by saying

Go and do the same as this samaritan

Now when you think through that you'll realize that the samaritan had no hope of return

There was nothing good coming out of him helping the sky except that the sky was would be helped. That's how Jesus framed the story

And he did it all

So that we might know what it means to show mercy on those not just in your family or your circles

But how to show mercy and compassion on your neighbor in every which direction

Jesus said go and do the same go and do likewise

Love him the way the samaritan loved the stranger

So think through what does it do? What does it mean to do this? What does it take to do this?

Quite simply means that we look around and recognize the needs in other people's lives and reach out

And meet those needs in the name and the spirit of Jesus Christ

In the same way you've been loved

To seek to express that in other people's lives in your

other people's lives in your lifetime and in your area of influence

imagine what the person with a broken marriage feels like and what they need

If you were to reach out to them imagine what the young person with a broken home needs and love them that way

Imagine the hurting person imagine the this illusion person imagine the lonely person

And meet the need in their life or the displaced person who has no family anywhere around. How do you meet that need?

But when you see their need and you find a way to meet that need responsibly

Then you're loving like the samaritan

Loved in jesus story

You know one of our goals is to build an invite culture in our church meaning that we are

conscious of everyone's need for the gospel

If you needed the gospel everybody needs the gospel if I needed the gospel everybody needs the gospel

But but looking around us at people in our lives and saying the best thing I can do for them

Might be a practical thing, but ultimately it will always be introducing them to the love of and the good news of Jesus Christ

Maybe bring them to a service with you

Maybe expose them to a small group in your in your in your church where you're helping them

See what it means to be loved and to be loved by God and loved

by God and love other people

And we want to encourage you

To realize that's what real life is really all about helping love people the best way we can

Who do you need to reach out to who do you love?

Who do you need to speak to with the same kind of love that God reached out to you with?

So love God

Love others. The third thing is love scripture love scripture

Now at first when we look at this text, we don't think the scripture is part of the love relationship

We're talking about but i've just shared with you a moment ago that loving God with all your heart

So the mind means aligning with him

It's interesting that Jesus brings

The whole law and the prophets essentially all the teaching of the old testament into his new testament answer

In other words if you want to fulfill everything i've already said in the old testament

God in the flesh says

Then love God with all your heart and love others as yourself

So he says this is the great and foremost commandment and then he says on these two commandments depend the whole

law and the prophets why did Jesus include this

Why didn't he just stop with saying this is the great and foremost and the second is like into it

Why does he bother to go on beyond that and say?

all the law all the commandments are built on these two things because

He wanted us to understand that all of God's word is part of

What we do when we love God love others

Love his word to us

That's so incredibly important Jesus used the scripture to reveal truth

Scripture is then and now the basis for what Jesus came to say and came to do

If you want to pass on to someone else what Jesus says to them use your bible and tell him what he says to them

Because you've learned what it means for you

When Jesus says I love you with an everlasting love in the old testament or when he says i've come to give my life or

ransom for mankind

That's what he means for you to say to somebody else love his word enough to share that with other people

Now, you know Jesus spoke the truth and he identified as the truth at the same time. Don't you?

For example, John 8 32 you will know the truth and the truth will make you free

Or he identified as the truth in John chapter 14

John 14 · chapter mention

14 verse 6 if you were to walk in the front door of our buildings, you would see a large stone there

And john 14 6 is there where Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life

No one comes to the father but through me

Why do we have that stone there?

Because of the thousands of people that walk through that front door every year

We want every single one of them to know that Jesus claims to be the way the truth and the life

And there's no two ways about it. He is the way for salvation. We love what he said

We believe it's true and we want everybody to know that so we love god. We love

Others and we love the scripture. It's a huge value for us

You know, the true church has always held to the word

It's the apostate church that has left the word behind

And what's going on in our world today as it always has

Without scripture people are left to guess or worse make up what they want their truth to be what they believe about god

What they believe about right and wrong, but god is there and god is not silent

Love the scripture because it brings you into alignment

With the god that you love

Love scripture because it helps others know about the god that loves us

You know the bible says all scripture is inspired by god and profitable for teaching for reproof

For correction and training in righteousness. It's our guide. It's our authority

It is our conscious and everything and we firmly stand on that for all these reasons and more and more

Here's how I want you to look at god's word today

And every day look at god's word as god's note to you for the day his note to you for the day

I'm on my bible reading plan that reads just four chapters

A day of the scripture and i'm starting in the new testament

Four chapters today will let me read eleven hundred and eighty nine

chapters of the bible all of them

in less than 300 days

297 and a half days i'll finish this

And every one of them when i'm reading them i'm reading them with this perspective. What does this text tell me about god?

And what does this say?

That god is saying to me today

What does it tell me about him?

What message does he send to me today with what i'm reading?

And i'll tell you i see a lot of life when I read the bible everybody it just speaks to me so powerfully

I've come to love the scripture because it's god speaking to us

And part of loving people is helping people know the truth part of loving god is being in alignment with him

So love god love people love truth

You say but pastor sometimes it's hard

For people we're trying to love to hear the truth

Sometimes they don't want to hear it and I agree sometimes they don't

You know there have actually been times in my life where I told people the truth about a question

They've asked me and then they not like me anymore

And they've been angry at me they've retaliated against me

But there have also been people who years later have come back to me and said to me

Thank you for telling me the truth. I didn't want to thin but I I knew it was true in my heart

It's so important to love god love people love the truth. Here's how we wrap it all up

Here's the line a real church is a group of people who aspire to love god

love people

And love scripture

And all that begins with you

today

The church is a group of people

Not the building not the organization

The church is you

love god

love people

Love the scripture

In just a moment, we're going to come back to the church

In just a moment, we're going to close in prayer

About three invites I want to give you today. First of all the decision station

We talked a lot about the gospel today if you've never

Accepted what christ did on the cross for you personally

If you've never entered into a personal relationship with Jesus christ through what he did on the cross today's a great day to do that

These decision stations are manned by people who can answer questions

And they can lead you in prayer. I want to encourage you to stop on the way out

Have a conversation about faith in Jesus

That's number one number two if you're a guest today

I would love to meet you in our guest reception centers just outside

The center exit doors and across the hallway. It's a glassed-in room. You'll see me there in a moment

Please stop by let me tell you about what god is doing here across this church

Plus, I'd just love to meet you and say thank you for being here today

Number three

There's always an opportunity to invite others to come join us next week

There are invite cards out there with the real church logo on it. I want to encourage you to pick them out

Take a bunch of them invite people to come with you next week reserve a spot for them sit next to them make them feel welcome

But let them hear about how the church is supposed to engage people who don't know christ yet

But who will someday come to know christ because we have reached out to engage them in the gospel

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer today?

Father today, I am so grateful for your words so grateful for this

Greatest commandment the difficult question posed but the answer you gave amazing

Father today, I am so thankful too that you have taught us how to love you

With all of our hearts with all of our soul with all of our mind father. I pray that you would bring us to a place of all

That we would come to a place of affection for you

And that we would align ourselves with you

Lord be at work in our hearts today use us as we go out of this building today into the world you've placed us in

To love others the way you've loved us in jesus name

Amen